Efficiency enhancements in task management applications

ABSTRACT

Efficiency improvements for electronic task managers and an improved user experience are realized when more relevant and fewer irrelevant tasks are presented to users and users are given greater control in manipulating those task items. By heuristically determining times, locations, and semantics associated with task relevance and integrating the management of tasks into more applications, the functionality of the systems providing for electronic task management is improved, as computer resources are spent with greater utility to the users and the user experience is improved for the users.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present disclosure claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/418,268 filed Nov. 6, 2016, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Electronic task management systems and applications enable users to track various tasks more efficiently than with hardcopy notes; users can access the same tasks from multiple devices, rearrange the tasks, and share tasks between users remotely. The ease of adding tasks to an electronic task manager, however, can leave users overwhelmed; too many, irrelevant, or contextually inappropriate tasks can distract the user from the tasks that are relevant to the user at a given time and place. The provision of unwanted tasks not only degrades the user experience, but also wastes computing resources that are used to provide tasks that are not wanted by the user that could be used more efficiently for other tasks.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description section. This summary is not intended to identify all key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Enhancements to the efficiency of a task management application are discussed herein in relation to systems, methods, and computer readable media that provide such enhancements. Relational data for entities and the context in which users interact with task items, including the productivity applications used to complete task items, are used to provide users with more relevant tasks, fewer irrelevant tasks, and with greater control and convenience in manipulating task items.

In one aspect, task items are presented and manipulated in association with a productivity application in which they are to be completed. For example, a user when accessing a productivity application will be presented with task items assigned for that user that can be completed in that productivity application. In another example, a user who accesses a productivity application document associated with a task item will be alerted to tasks items associated with that document (related to the user or another user). Data and/or metadata associated with user interactions with the productivity application are observed and used to alert other users associated with the task items of progress on the task items, without the users having to switch focus from the productivity application.

By providing enhanced efficiency for a task management application, not only is the user's experience improved, but the functionality of the device used to provide the task management application is also improved. The device spends computing resources (processor cycles and memory storage space) with greater precision; wasting fewer resources to provide unwanted tasks for the user's consideration.

Examples are implemented as a computer process, a computing system, or as an article of manufacture such as a device, computer program product, or computer readable medium. According to an aspect, the computer program product is a computer storage medium readable by a computer system and encoding a computer program comprising instructions for executing a computer process.

The details of one or more aspects are set forth in the accompanying drawings and description below. Other features and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that the following detailed description is explanatory only and is not restrictive of the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate various aspects. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example operating environment in which the present disclosure may be practiced;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example graphical user interface in which Task List item creation from within a productivity application is shown;

FIG. 3 illustrates a graphical user interface in which a Task List is implemented;

FIG. 4 illustrates a graphical user interface in which a Task List is implemented within the productivity application in which it can be completed;

FIG. 5 illustrates a graphical user interface in which the user interface for task list items is sorted by various categories and provided with the calendar application on the home screen of the user's device;

FIG. 6 illustrates a graphical user interface in which a task list application template is provided;

FIG. 7 illustrates a graphical user interface in which a shared task list for various groups of users is provided;

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate a graphical user interface in which a task assigned by a first user can be provided to a second user in the application relevant to completing that task item;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example user interface for a digital assistant to create task items;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing general stages involved in an example method for enhancing efficiency by presenting and manipulating task items in association with a productivity application in which they are to be completed;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating example physical components of a computing device;

FIGS. 12A and 12B are block diagrams of a mobile computing device; and

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a distributed computing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description refers to the same or similar elements. While examples may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description is not limiting, but instead, the proper scope is defined by the appended claims. Examples may take the form of a hardware implementation, or an entirely software implementation, or an implementation combining software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

Enhancements to the efficiency of a task management application are discussed herein in relation to systems, methods, and computer readable media that provide such enhancements. Relational data for entities and the context in which users interact with task items, including the productivity applications used to complete task items, are used to provide users with more relevant tasks, fewer irrelevant tasks, and with greater control and convenience in manipulating task items.

In one aspect, task items are presented and manipulated in association with a productivity application in which they are to be completed. For example, a user when accessing a productivity application will be presented with task items assigned for that user that can be completed in that productivity application. In another example, a user who accesses a productivity application document associated with a task item will be alerted to tasks items associated with that document (related to the user or another user). Data and/or metadata associated with user interactions with the productivity application are observed and used to alert other users associated with the task items of progress on the task items, without the users having to switch focus from the productivity application.

By providing enhanced efficiency for a task management application, not only is the user's experience improved, but the functionality of the device used to provide the task management application is also improved. The device spends computing resources (processor cycles and memory storage space) with greater precision; wasting fewer resources to provide unwanted tasks for the user's consideration.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example operating environment 100 in which the present disclosure may be practiced. As illustrated, a user device 110 is in communication with a task list service 120. In various aspects, the task list service 120 is hosted on the user device 110, while in other aspects, the task list service 120 is hosted on a remote device as a service accessible by the user device 110. The task list service 120 includes in various configurations one or more of a: heuristic engine 121, a suggestion engine 122, a context clusterer 123, a preview generator 124, user profiles 125, a context listener 126, and a relational store 127. The task list service 120 is in further communication with one or more services that may be hosted on the user device 110 or another device that include, but are not limited to: a relational graph service 130, an email service 140, a calendar service 150, and a productivity service 160. Although only one of each component is illustrated in FIG. 1, it will be appreciated that in different aspects more than one of one or more components are provided (e.g., more than one user device 110 is in communication with the task list service 120, which is in communication with more than one email service 140).

Each of the user device 110, task list service 120, and the services 130-160 are illustrative of a multitude of computing systems including, without limitation, desktop computer systems, wired and wireless computing systems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, netbooks, tablet or slate type computers, notebook computers, and laptop computers), hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, printers, and mainframe computers. The hardware of these computing systems is discussed in greater detail in regard to FIGS. 11, 12A, 12B, and 13. User devices 110 are operated by users, who may be humans or automated systems (e.g., “bots”). In various aspects, the user device 110, task list service 120, and the services 130-160 may be accessed by a user or each other locally and/or by a network, which may include the Internet, a Local Area Network (LAN), a private distributed network for an entity (e.g., a company, a university, a government agency), a wireless ad hoc network, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or other direct data link (e.g., Bluetooth connection, a direct wired link).

The user device 110 is accessed by a user to operate a task list application, among other features and applications. The task list application provides user-specific tasks that the user wishes to be reminded of to complete and tools for manipulating those tasks (e.g., assign task to another user, share task with another user, complete task, mark status of task, add task, remove task). For example, a user may access the task list application to receive a reminder to pay rent on a given set of days, to attend a meeting at a given time, or to go grocery shopping at an undefined time. In various aspects, the task list application is provided by the task list service 120 in a thin client running on the user device 110 in conjunction with a client running on a remote server. In other aspects, the task list application is provided by a task list service 120 running on the user device 110 as a thick client. In yet other aspects, the task list service 120 operates as a distributed system, running on the user device 110 as a thick client when a network connection to the remote server is not available (or not needed) and as a thin client when the network connection is available.

The task list service 120 includes one or more components that may be enabled or disabled as users enable or disable features or network connections to a remote server are established or lost. In various aspects, a task list service 120 local to a given user device 110 may also disable or reduce in size or complexity one or more components compared to a task list service 120 that is accessible over a network by multiple user devices 110.

A heuristic engine 121 is operable to learn user behavior over time to enhance the determinations of which candidate tasks discovered from task sources are to be presented, and in what order, to a given user at a given time and location. The heuristic engine 121 is operable to use one or more machine learning approaches to determine how to best serve the needs and use-cases presented by individual users.

A suggestion engine 122 is operable to determine whether a candidate task received from a tasks source should be suggested to the user as a task to perform at a given time and/or location. From all of the candidate task items that may be presented to the user at any given time, the suggestion engine 122 filters those task items to a manageable subset based on the user's existing task items (to avoid scheduling conflicts), prior acceptances/rejections of suggested task items, and the prior actions of the user. For example, if a user's calendar includes an event for an upcoming birthday, a suggested task is created that the person whose birthday is coming up should be called prior to that date. In another example, where the user sent an email that included a promise to send an attachment by a deadline, a task is suggested to meet this deadline. In a further example, an important meeting is observed on the calendar service 150 as occurring on Friday, and the suggestion service 122 will observe the rest of the week's calendar to determine which days prior to the meeting are likely to allow for a task item to prepare for the important meeting. For example, the task item will be presented on Monday and Thursday, but not Tuesday or Wednesday, due to the number of task items already accepted for on those days (Tuesday and Wednesday being busier or having more task items accepted in the present example than Monday and Thursday).

A content clusterer 123 is operable to cluster tasks and entities that are related in the location, time, and semantics terms that they contain. As will be understood, clustering is a statistical operation that groups items based on shared characteristics (and combinations thereof). In one aspect, tasks interacted with (created/completed) with similar time ranges are clustered together based on similar time characteristics. In another aspect, tasks interacted with (created/completed) when the user is at a given location will be clustered together based on location characteristics. In a further aspect, tasks with similar words, terms, or entities (persons, documents, resources) will be clustered together based on semantic characteristics. For example, the content clusterer 123 is operable to create two clusters of events when it is noticed that a user performs certain tasks when working at a first location during a first time period and performs other tasks when working at a second location during a second time period to inform the heuristic engine 121 that there are two clusters of activity types regularly performed by the user. The content clusterer 123 enables the suggestion engine 122 to provide suggested tasks that are appropriate for a given time and/or location at which those tasks are presented to the user.

For example, the user will be presented with task items related to work on days associated with the work week and business hours, but will be presented with tasks items related to domestic activities (e.g., clean bathroom, go shopping, groom dog) outside of business hours. In another example, the user will be presented with tasks related to work when located at the user's place of work (e.g., detected via Global Positioning System (GPS), Internet Protocol (IP) Location Services, network names in range of the user device 110) and domestic tasks when located at another location (e.g., home, the grocery store, the dog groomer). In various aspects, the suggestion engine 122 will place various weights on clustering determinations that may change over a period of time, so that as time progresses, more or less weight will be given to the clustered content's location, time, or semantic data to allow for blended suggestions. For example, as the workday draws to a close, the user may be presented fewer work related tasks for the day as suggestions, and more domestic related tasks (e.g., “pick up milk on the way home from work”). In another example, when a location or a time period unknown to the content clusterer 123 is observed by the suggestion engine 122, the suggestion engine 122 may rely on the other contextual data used to cluster tasks, such as, when a user is on vacation (in a location previously unknown to the suggestion engine 122), the suggestion engine 122 may rely on time context and semantic context to provide suggestions, and ignore locational context.

A preview generator 124 is operable to generate previews for entities associated with a suggested task (or a selected task). For example, a portion of a document that is to be completed as part of a task is extracted by the preview generator 124 for presentation in a user interface as a preview. In another example, a portion of an audio recording of a phone call that is related to a task is generated as a preview. In a further example, a person who is related to a task (as a resource, an assignor, a teammate, or object of the task) has a preview generated with information from the relational graph service 130, such as, for example, that person's contact information, an image of that person, biographical details of that person, etc.

User profiles 125 are stored by the task list service 120 so that as the behaviors of the users are observed by the heuristic engine 121, the observations are stored to provide an increasingly more accurate view of the user's habits and use patterns for predicting future behaviors. In various aspects, the user or an administrator may also manually set preferences in the user profiles 125 to define how tasks are to be presented to the user and aid the heuristic engine 121 in determining the user's preferences in addition to observing the user's actions to learn those preferences.

A context listener 126 is operable to receive (or request) contextual data and task items from the user device 110 and the services 130-160 for use by the task list service 120. In various aspects, these data include appointments, events, meetings, and tasks set for the user and/or accepted by the user in addition to when and where these appointments, events, meetings, and tasks were set, accepted, worked on, and/or completed. In some aspects, the context listener 126 is operable to provide the state of the computing device (e.g., what applications were active, which application resulted in interacting with the task) to the task list service 120. For example, metadata related to whether a user has looked at a given entity part of a task, how long the user has worked on a given task, how long it took between accepting the task and starting or completing the task, and what interactions were made by the user may be gathered for analysis and reporting.

A relational store 127 stores the relations observed for the creation of task items so that dynamic context can be provided to the user when the task is suggested to the user at a later date. For example, when the user manually or a system automatically creates a task item, the task is parsed to locate entities (e.g., persons involved, objects to be acted on) and recent actions (e.g., actions taken in the last m minutes) that may relate to the task item. For example, if the user receives a message containing the phrase “profit sharing plan” and creates a task that also include that phrase, a relationship between the task and the message will be formed and stored in the relational store 127. In another example, when the user creates a task item to meet with another person, a relationship is formed between the task item, the meeting, and the person so that additional information about the meeting or the person can be recalled (e.g., from the relational graph service 130) when the task item is presented to the user. In various aspects, the node identifiers from the relation graph service 130 for related entities are stored in the relational store 127.

The relational graph service 130 hosts a graph database of a relational graph with nodes describing entities and a set of accompanying properties of those entities, such as, for example, the names, titles, ages, addresses, etc. Each property can be considered a key/value pair—a name of the property and its value. In other examples, entities represented as nodes that include documents, meetings, communication, etc., as well as edges representing relations among these entities, such as, for example, an edge between a person node and a document node representing that person's authorship, modification, or viewing of the document. The relational graph service 130 executes graph queries that are submitted by various users to return nodes or edges that satisfy various conditions (e.g., users within the same division of a company, the last X documents accessed by a given user). In various aspects, the relational graph 130 is in communication with the other services 140-160 to match actions to documents and track edges between nodes representing entities from those other services 140-160.

The email service 140 hosts the email communications for one or more users. In various aspects, the email service 140 is part of or includes a directory service for an organization. In other aspects, the email service 140 is integrated into or accessible by a productivity application of the productivity services 160. For example, an email server storing email messages for an organization is accessible by email applications for members of that organizations and acts as an email service 140 accessible by the task list service 120.

Emails provided from the email service 140 may be added as entities in the relational graph 130, and/or the communications embodied by the emails are treated as edges between communicating parties. In various aspects, emails that are part of the tasks (e.g., “send an email to John Doe”) that are monitored by the task list service 120, and also provide context for other tasks, such as, for example, when a task is originated in an email (e.g., an email whose content includes “please review the meeting agenda” originates the task of “review meeting agenda”).

The calendar service 150 hosts calendar and appointment information for one or more users. Various appointments, meetings, and events (collectively, events) are stored in the calendar service 150 that include one or more persons as participants/hosts. Events include one or more of: participants (required or optional), attendance information, times, locations, resources, attached documents, and event information (e.g., event title and description). In various aspects, the calendar service 150 is provided in a unified email/calendar application, such as, for example, THUNDERBIRD® (offered by the Mozilla Fnd of Mountain View, Calif.) or GMAIL® (offered by Alphabet Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.), which stores events for a user of that application. In other aspects, the calendar service 150 includes a social media platform, such as, for example, FACEBOOK® (offered by Facebook, Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif.) where various events are posted that users may attend.

Events provided from the calendar service 150 may be added as entities in the relational graph 130, and/or the interactions embodied by the events are treated as edges between interacting parties. In various aspects, events are part of the tasks (e.g., “attend birthday party”) that are monitored by the task list service 120, and also provide context for other tasks, such as, for example, when a task is originated in an event (e.g., action items created during a meeting).

The productivity service 160 includes one or more productivity applications and document repositories that are accessible by one or more users. In various aspects, the productivity service 160 is hosted on the user device 110 and/or a remote server accessible by the user device 110. For example, the productivity service 160 includes a locally executed authoring application (e.g., PAGES®, KEYNOTE®, or NUMBERS® offered by Apple, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.) and remotely executed authoring applications (e.g., the GOOGLE DOCS™ suite offered by Alphabet, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.) that are accessible via a thin client or web browser. In another example, the productivity service 160 include a library of documents stored on the user device 110 as well as libraries stored on networked computers or as part of a document management system and remote storage locations (e.g., GOOGLE DRIVE™ offered by Alphabet, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.).

Documents provided from the productivity service 160 may be added as entities in the relational graph 130. In various aspects, documents are part of the tasks (e.g., “edit the quarterly report”) that are monitored by the task list service 120, and provide context to report on how tasks have been handled to an initiating or collaborating party. For example, when a manager assigns the task of “edit the quarterly report” to an employee, the manager may receive an indication when the employee has completed the task, and the interactions that comprise that task. Similarly, when a manager assigns the task to a work group of several employees, when one employee assumes the task (e.g., begins work, accepts the task, completes the task), the other employees may be notified that the task has been assumed by their coworker.

In various aspects, the services 130-160 are operable to transmit interactions to the task list service 120 or to have interactions listened to/pulled from the services 130-160 to the task list service 120. An API (Application Program Interface) or agent between the task list service 120 and services 130-160 facilitate communication between the services 130-160 and the task list service 120, ensuring communications are received in a format interpretable by the receiving service. In one example, the SIRI® or GOOGLE NOW® personal digital assistants (offered by Apple, Inc. and Alphabet, Inc., respectively) may parse the sources 130-160 as agents to report relevant data to the task list service 120. In another example, the sources 130-160 are configured to communicate to the task list service 120 as actions are taken in those services 130-160 in a format specified via an API.

FIGS. 2-9 illustrate various example user interfaces for a task list application employing the tasks list service 120 to improve the efficiency in how tasks are presented to the user. As will be appreciated, FIGS. 2-9 are provided as non-limiting examples and other arrangements and groupings of user interface elements with different content are included in the concepts of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an example graphical user interface in which Task List item creation from within a productivity application is shown. As is illustrated in FIG. 2, a task creation option is provided in an email productivity application. In one example, the system identifies the “volunteer registration” as an entity possibly related to a task and identifies the candidate time as “tonight” and provides the task creation control. Upon selection of the task creation control, the “volunteer registration” task is created as a task item for “tonight”. In another aspect, the user selects the task creation option and identifies the objects, persons, and times relevant to that task. In various aspects, dialogs or prompts are provided to the user to select the values from the productivity application or manually input those values to build the task.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a graphical user interface in which a Task List is implemented. In one aspect, upon selection of the Task creation option in FIG. 2, the task item is created in relation to the content item from which it was created and is displayed in a calendar. For example, the system identifies the “volunteer registration” task in the email illustrated in FIG. 2 and that the task needs to be completed tonight—relative to the day of creation or a date in the content item. The system creates the task and displays the task in the calendar application as illustrated in FIG. 3 for completion tonight. In one example, the user is provided with an option whether to accept the task or to make any desired changes to the task such as for example, change the date and or time, reassigned the task, etc.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a graphical user interface in which a Task List is implemented within the productivity application in which it can be completed. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, a presentation application is in use and the tasks from the tasks list that are identified by the system to be completed in the presentation application are displayed for the user therein. This allows the user to open the task application and view the tasks to be completed without switching to the task list application. In various aspects, the user is also linked to the document or section of the document, via a hyperlink in the user interface that is related to the task item, to improve user navigation to task-relation documents or portions thereof

In another aspect, the user is allowed to add a task item, as illustrated in FIG. 4, from the productivity application without having to open or give focus to the task list application for interacting with the task list items. For example, the user is allowed to add a task item to the task list from the presentation application without ever leaving the presentation application and without having to access the task list application to create a task list item.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a graphical user interface in which the user interface for task list items is sorted by various categories and provided with the calendar application on the home screen of the user's device. Additional functionalities, such as for example, an option to add a task list item are also provided. In one example, the interface is provided on the user's desktop. In another example, the interface is provided on the user's home screen or splash screen before or after logging into the user device 110. In some aspects, the user interface is laid on top of a background image set by the user.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a graphical user interface in which a task list application template is provided. Task list templates allow for the task items of a given list to be presented in repeated circumstances. For example, one or more task list templates may be provided to easily share information between the employees of an organization. In another example, a template task list may be added to a new employee's task list by the employee's manager, wherein that template task list is provided to each new employee for onboarding purposes, and the manager may receive notifications of the status of the completion for that employee. As task list items are completed by the employee the tasks will be marked as complete for that employee, but another new employee, who was provided the same template list, will need to independently fill out the task items; despite being based on the same template, each user receives a unique task list.

In various aspects, the task list templates are set up manually. In other examples, task list templates are created automatically. For example, a grocery shopping task list template is created for a user based on the user's previous task lists for grocery shopping so that frequently purchased items automatically appear as items on the task list. The user may manually add to the template task list or to the resultant individual task list (e.g., always buy bread (add to template), buy bread this time (add to individual task list)). In various aspects, task lists for repeated tasks include items with varying frequencies (e.g., every time the list is created, every other time the list is created, after n days since the last list was created) so that, for example, a template for grocery shopping include a task item for “buy toothpaste” that appears as part of the template task list, but only appears on the grocery shopping task list for an individual reminder to go grocery shopping once per month, despite the user going grocery shopping (based on the template task list) four times per month.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of a graphical user interface in which a shared task list for various groups of users is provided. For example, managers can share organization-owned tasks with their teams. The task list service 120 enables the managers to create and assign tasks to their employees in aggregate as well as for individual employees. In one aspect, various notifications such as for example, in-app notifications, push notifications, and email notifications are provided to allow easy tracking of the new task list and the progress of the assigned user is meeting its goals. The system provides the users access to their assigned tasks at any time from various devices. In one example, as illustrated in FIG. 7, an organization “Acme, Inc.” has shared a task list with a group of users. The task list item “Stocktake of Kids section” is displayed as completed, while the other task list items are displayed as incomplete or in progress/accepted by a specific user. The system provides the manager of the task list a notification with additional details such as time of completion, user who completed/accepted the task list item etc. The system indicates the users and the manager the task list item “Cashier Saturday” with a user, indicating that the user is working on the particular task list item. This prevents the other users from beginning to work on the task list item that is already being worked on by another user and improves productivity. In another example, users can reassign task between each other while they are performing the task.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are illustrations of a graphical user interface in which a task assigned by a first user can be provided to a second user in the application relevant in completing that task item. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 8A, the task list items related to the presentation application that will need to be completed within the presentation application are provided as soon as the second user accesses the presentation application. Along with the task list item, additional information about the first user who assigned the task list item, due date, percentage completed is provided. In another example, as illustrated in FIG. 8B, the system allows the user to add an assigned task list item to the user's own task list for later completion by selecting “Add”, to perform the task at that moment by selecting “do it now”, or to delegate the task to another user by selecting “delegate”. In one example, the system provides a notification to the first user (the task assignor) of the second user's selection to update the status or assignee of the task list item.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example user interface for a digital assistant to create task items. As illustrated in FIG. 9, a digital assistant has been invoked and provides various controls for defining a task item. In various aspects, user input may be received by the digital assistant from input devices such as keyboards, mice, and touch screens, but also from microphones when the digital assistant is operable to interpret speech for content input and commands. The digital assistant may be invoked by the user uttering a command sequence to summon the digital assistant, selecting a control in a user interface, or automatically in response to user actions in a productivity application, task list application, or operating system.

Input fields include, but are not limited to, title, description, persons involved, places involved, and times involved fields. The user is operable to set which task list the task item is added to, or the system may automatically add the task item to a task list according to a determination of common subject matter, time, or location according to a clusterer 123. Additional controls are provided for the user to accept the creation of the task item (e.g., “remind”), reject the creation of the task item (e.g., “cancel”), and to locate additional data related to the task item (e.g., “search for ...”).

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing general stages involved in an example method 1000 for enhancing efficiency by presenting and manipulating task items in association with a productivity application in which they are to be completed. As users do not generally work in task managers to author content items, but in email, messaging, calendaring, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and other productivity applications, switching back and forth between a task management application and a productivity application introduces inefficiencies into the user's workflow and requires the expenditure of computing resources to maintain (and switch between) multiple applications. Users are enabled to set tasks for themselves or others within a productivity application associated with completing that task so that when a relevant user accesses that productivity application, the tasks for that user will be displayed in the context of the productivity application. Similarly, as users access the productivity application and take actions therein, metadata are collected to share their actions with the other relevant users and update their task lists.

Method 1000 beings at OPERATION 1010, where a task item is created in the context of a productivity application. The context in which the task is created includes the entity—including a productivity application or specific document—opened by the assigning user at the time of task creation. For example, a manager may set a task item to copyedit pages X-Z of a word processing document and assign the task item to a work group or an individual user. The manager, for example, may a select the pages X-Z while accessing those pages in a word processing application and select an option to create a task based on that selection, which is shared from the word processing application to the task list service 120 to assign as a task to the members or the work group. The manager is enabled to make multiple selections of users to whom to assign the task item and may assign multiple sections or whole-document tasks to one or more users. Similarly, the manager is enabled to set a directive relative to the assigned user and section (e.g., “copyedit”, “review”, “complete”), which is provided in various aspects as a text entry from the assigning user or selected from a pre-populated list, and allows the assigning user to set deadlines to complete the task item. The relationships for the task item are stored in a relationship store 127, and in some aspects include the assigning user, the assigned user(s), the assigned productivity application, the assigned document(s)—in aspects where they have been already created, the task item directives, deadlines, and the interaction record with the task item.

At OPERATION 1020 user activity from the assigned user is observed in the productivity application. For example, a user to whom the task is assigned may open the document in which the task has been assigned, or may open the productivity application in which the task was created (e.g., in a “home” or “start” interface of the productivity application). Activities also include making edits or changes to a document related to a task item and/or interacting with the task item within the productivity application (e.g., marking a task as complete, delegating the task, accepting or rejecting the task). In various aspects, the document or productivity application may be accessed via a hyperlink provided by a task list view from the task list service 120 (as a preview or hyperlink to direct the user to the assigned portions of the document) or by opening the document/application independently of the task list view.

Proceeding to OPERATION 1030, the task item is displayed within the context of the productivity application for the user. For example, a pop-up notification, overlay, or windowed message may alert a user who accesses the document or productivity application that a task exists to complete. In various aspects, users who are assigned the task item are provided with details on that task, such as, for example, who assigned the task, who else has been assigned the task (e.g., a working group's members), whether work has been done in relation to the task since it has been assigned (and by whom), a due date for the task item, a description of the task, etc. In some aspects, users already accessing the productivity application (e.g., working on a first document) are provided notification within the productivity application when a newly assigned task using that productivity application (e.g., to edit a second document) is assigned to them.

Users who are not assigned the task who access a document in which a task is assigned to another user may be provided with an alert that the document (or sections thereof) is designated for another user to perform a task in relation to. In some aspects, the alert specifically identifies which user and/or section has been assigned as a task item or provides a private alert to the accessing user that does not specify one or more of the assigned user or section (e.g., “Someone has been assigned a task related to a portion of this document”).

Metadata for the user activity in the productivity application are captured at OPERATION 1040. For example, when a user accesses a document in which a task is assigned, the access metadata are gathered, which may distinguish assigned users, users related in a relational graph to the assigned users (e.g., a manager, a direct report, a spouse, the assigning user), and users who are not assigned the task or are related to users who have been assigned the task. The metadata include, but are not limited to when an assigned user accesses a task item, when an unassigned user accesses a task item, an amount of time spent interacting with a task item, whether the task item is reassigned to another party, the user who assigned the task item, whether the task item is completed, etc. In various aspects, a user may indicate manually a portion of completion with a task item (e.g., “25% done”, “section A completed”, “done”) or a portion of completion may be automatically inferred, for example, by saving and/or sending the document, by sending an email observed by the context listener 126 or an agent as involving the document, etc. Metadata may also be collected by an agent or listener in the productivity application that shares the metadata with the task list service 120.

At OPERATION 1050, the users related to the task item are alerted to the user activity relative to the task object. In various aspects, the user who created the task is alerted as progress is made on the assigned task item (e.g., “access by assigned user”, “X % complete”, “done”). In other aspects, assigned users are alerted as other users (part of an assigned group or otherwise) accept or reject the task or make progress on the assigned task. These alerts may be provided, in various aspects, within a task management application, a productivity application, or by an operating system, as a popup, overlay, or in a windowed area used for alerts. Method 1000 may then conclude.

While implementations have been described in the general context of program modules that execute in conjunction with an application program that runs on an operating system on a computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that aspects may also be implemented in combination with other program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.

The aspects and functionalities described herein may operate via a multitude of computing systems including, without limitation, desktop computer systems, wired and wireless computing systems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, netbooks, tablet or slate type computers, notebook computers, and laptop computers), hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, and mainframe computers.

In addition, according to an aspect, the aspects and functionalities described herein operate over distributed systems (e.g., cloud-based computing systems), where application functionality, memory, data storage and retrieval and various processing functions are operated remotely from each other over a distributed computing network, such as the Internet or an intranet. According to an aspect, user interfaces and information of various types are displayed via on-board computing device displays or via remote display units associated with one or more computing devices. For example, user interfaces and information of various types are displayed and interacted with on a wall surface onto which user interfaces and information of various types are projected.

Interaction with the multitude of computing systems with which implementations are practiced include, keystroke entry, touch screen entry, voice or other audio entry, gesture entry where an associated computing device is equipped with detection (e.g., camera) functionality for capturing and interpreting user gestures for controlling the functionality of the computing device, and the like.

FIGS. 11-13 and the associated descriptions provide a discussion of a variety of operating environments in which examples are practiced. However, the devices and systems illustrated and discussed with respect to FIGS. 11-13 are for purposes of example and illustration and are not limiting of a vast number of computing device configurations that are utilized for practicing aspects, described herein.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating physical components (i.e., hardware) of a computing device 1100 with which examples of the present disclosure may be practiced. In a basic configuration, the computing device 1100 includes at least one processing unit 1102 and a system memory 1104. According to an aspect, depending on the configuration and type of computing device, the system memory 1104 comprises, but is not limited to, volatile storage (e.g., random access memory), non-volatile storage (e.g., read-only memory), flash memory, or any combination of such memories. According to an aspect, the system memory 1104 includes an operating system 1105 and one or more program modules 1106 suitable for running software applications 1150. According to an aspect, the system memory 1104 includes the task list service 120. The operating system 1105, for example, is suitable for controlling the operation of the computing device 1100. Furthermore, aspects are practiced in conjunction with a graphics library, other operating systems, or any other application program, and are not limited to any particular application or system. This basic configuration is illustrated in FIG. 11 by those components within a dashed line 1108. According to an aspect, the computing device 1100 has additional features or functionality. For example, according to an aspect, the computing device 1100 includes additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in FIG. 11 by a removable storage device 1109 and a non-removable storage device 1110.

As stated above, according to an aspect, a number of program modules and data files are stored in the system memory 1104. While executing on the processing unit 1102, the program modules 1106 (e.g., task list service 120) perform processes including, but not limited to, one or more of the stages of the method 1000 illustrated in FIG. 10. According to an aspect, other program modules are used in accordance with examples and include applications such as electronic mail and contacts applications, word processing applications, spreadsheet applications, database applications, slide presentation applications, drawing or computer-aided application programs, etc.

According to an aspect, the computing device 1100 has one or more input device(s) 1112 such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a sound input device, a touch input device, etc. The output device(s) 1114 such as a display, speakers, a printer, etc. are also included according to an aspect. The aforementioned devices are examples and others may be used. According to an aspect, the computing device 1100 includes one or more communication connections 1116 allowing communications with other computing devices 1118. Examples of suitable communication connections 1116 include, but are not limited to, radio frequency (RF) transmitter, receiver, and/or transceiver circuitry; universal serial bus (USB), parallel, and/or serial ports.

The term computer readable media, as used herein, includes computer storage media. Computer storage media include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, or program modules. The system memory 1104, the removable storage device 1109, and the non-removable storage device 1110 are all computer storage media examples (i.e., memory storage.) According to an aspect, computer storage media include RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other article of manufacture which can be used to store information and which can be accessed by the computing device 1100. According to an aspect, any such computer storage media is part of the computing device 1100. Computer storage media do not include a carrier wave or other propagated data signal.

According to an aspect, communication media are embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and include any information delivery media. According to an aspect, the term “modulated data signal” describes a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared, and other wireless media.

FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrate a mobile computing device 1200, for example, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a tablet personal computer, a laptop computer, and the like, with which aspects may be practiced. With reference to FIG. 12A, an example of a mobile computing device 1200 for implementing the aspects is illustrated. In a basic configuration, the mobile computing device 1200 is a handheld computer having both input elements and output elements. The mobile computing device 1200 typically includes a display 1205 and one or more input buttons 1210 that allow the user to enter information into the mobile computing device 1200. According to an aspect, the display 1205 of the mobile computing device 1200 functions as an input device (e.g., a touch screen display). If included, an optional side input element 1215 allows further user input. According to an aspect, the side input element 1215 is a rotary switch, a button, or any other type of manual input element. In alternative examples, mobile computing device 1200 incorporates more or fewer input elements. For example, the display 1205 may not be a touch screen in some examples. In alternative examples, the mobile computing device 1200 is a portable phone system, such as a cellular phone. According to an aspect, the mobile computing device 1200 includes an optional keypad 1235. According to an aspect, the optional keypad 1235 is a physical keypad. According to another aspect, the optional keypad 1235 is a “soft” keypad generated on the touch screen display. In various aspects, the output elements include the display 1205 for showing a graphical user interface (GUI), a visual indicator 1220 (e.g., a light emitting diode), and/or an audio transducer 1225 (e.g., a speaker). In some examples, the mobile computing device 1200 incorporates a vibration transducer for providing the user with tactile feedback. In yet another example, the mobile computing device 1200 incorporates input and/or output ports, such as an audio input (e.g., a microphone jack), an audio output (e.g., a headphone jack), and a video output (e.g., a HDMI port) for sending signals to or receiving signals from an external device. In yet another example, the mobile computing device 1200 incorporates peripheral device port 1240, such as an audio input (e.g., a microphone jack), an audio output (e.g., a headphone jack), and a video output (e.g., a HDMI port) for sending signals to or receiving signals from an external device.

FIG. 12B is a block diagram illustrating the architecture of one example of a mobile computing device. That is, the mobile computing device 1200 incorporates a system (i.e., an architecture) 1202 to implement some examples. In one example, the system 1202 is implemented as a “smart phone” capable of running one or more applications (e.g., browser, e-mail, calendaring, contact managers, messaging clients, games, and media clients/players). In some examples, the system 1202 is integrated as a computing device, such as an integrated personal digital assistant (PDA) and wireless phone.

According to an aspect, one or more application programs 1250 are loaded into the memory 1262 and run on or in association with the operating system 1264. Examples of the application programs include phone dialer programs, e-mail programs, personal information management (PIM) programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, messaging programs, and so forth. According to an aspect, the task list service 120 is loaded into memory 1262. The system 1202 also includes a non-volatile storage area 1268 within the memory 1262. The non-volatile storage area 1268 is used to store persistent information that should not be lost if the system 1202 is powered down. The application programs 1250 may use and store information in the non-volatile storage area 1268, such as e-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, and the like. A synchronization application (not shown) also resides on the system 1202 and is programmed to interact with a corresponding synchronization application resident on a host computer to keep the information stored in the non-volatile storage area 1268 synchronized with corresponding information stored at the host computer. As should be appreciated, other applications may be loaded into the memory 1262 and run on the mobile computing device 1200.

According to an aspect, the system 1202 has a power supply 1270, which is implemented as one or more batteries. According to an aspect, the power supply 1270 further includes an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges the batteries.

According to an aspect, the system 1202 includes a radio 1272 that performs the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequency communications. The radio 1272 facilitates wireless connectivity between the system 1202 and the “outside world,” via a communications carrier or service provider. Transmissions to and from the radio 1272 are conducted under control of the operating system 1264. In other words, communications received by the radio 1272 may be disseminated to the application programs 1250 via the operating system 1264, and vice versa.

According to an aspect, the visual indicator 1220 is used to provide visual notifications and/or an audio interface 1274 is used for producing audible notifications via the audio transducer 1225. In the illustrated example, the visual indicator 1220 is a light emitting diode (LED) and the audio transducer 1225 is a speaker. These devices may be directly coupled to the power supply 1270 so that when activated, they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though the processor 1260 and other components might shut down for conserving battery power. The LED may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device. The audio interface 1274 is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. For example, in addition to being coupled to the audio transducer 1225, the audio interface 1274 may also be coupled to a microphone to receive audible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation. According to an aspect, the system 1202 further includes a video interface 1276 that enables an operation of an on-board camera 1230 to record still images, video stream, and the like.

According to an aspect, a mobile computing device 1200 implementing the system 1202 has additional features or functionality. For example, the mobile computing device 1200 includes additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in FIG. 12B by the non-volatile storage area 1268.

According to an aspect, data/information generated or captured by the mobile computing device 1200 and stored via the system 1202 are stored locally on the mobile computing device 1200, as described above. According to another aspect, the data are stored on any number of storage media that are accessible by the device via the radio 1272 or via a wired connection between the mobile computing device 1200 and a separate computing device associated with the mobile computing device 1200, for example, a server computer in a distributed computing network, such as the Internet. As should be appreciated such data/information are accessible via the mobile computing device 1200 via the radio 1272 or via a distributed computing network. Similarly, according to an aspect, such data/information are readily transferred between computing devices for storage and use according to well-known data/information transfer and storage means, including electronic mail and collaborative data/information sharing systems.

FIG. 13 illustrates one example of the architecture of a system for improving the efficiency of managing task lists as described above. Content developed, interacted with, or edited in association with the task list service 120 is enabled to be stored in different communication channels or other storage types. For example, various documents may be stored using a directory service 1322, a web portal 1324, a mailbox service 1326, an instant messaging store 1328, or a social networking site 1330. The task list service 120 is operative to use any of these types of systems or the like for improving efficiency of task list management, as described herein. According to an aspect, a server 1320 provides the task list service 120 to clients 1305 a,b,c. As one example, the server 1320 is a web server providing the task list service 120 over the web. The server 1320 provides the task list service 120 over the web to clients 1305 through a network 1340. By way of example, the client computing device is implemented and embodied in a personal computer 1305 a, a tablet computing device 1305 b or a mobile computing device 1305 c (e.g., a smart phone), or other computing device. Any of these examples of the client computing device are operable to obtain content from the store 1316.

Implementations, for example, are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products according to aspects. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.

The description and illustration of one or more examples provided in this application are not intended to limit or restrict the scope as claimed in any way. The aspects, examples, and details provided in this application are considered sufficient to convey possession and enable others to make and use the best mode. Implementations should not be construed as being limited to any aspect, example, or detail provided in this application. Regardless of whether shown and described in combination or separately, the various features (both structural and methodological) are intended to be selectively included or omitted to produce an example with a particular set of features. Having been provided with the description and illustration of the present application, one skilled in the art may envision variations, modifications, and alternate examples falling within the spirit of the broader aspects of the general inventive concept embodied in this application that do not depart from the broader scope. 

We claim:
 1. A method for presenting and manipulating task items in association with and within a context of a productivity application in which the task items are to be completed, comprising: creating a task item in association with an entity; observing a user activity related to the task item in the productivity application; displaying the task item in the context of the productivity application; capturing metadata for the user activity; and alerting task list members of the user activity.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the task item is created by a first user and the user activity is made by a second user.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the task item further comprises: receiving a selection of a document; receiving a selection of a user; receiving a task item directive; and relating the task item directive to the selection of the document for the user as the task item.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity is an instance of the productivity application opened by an assigning user, including one of: a word processing application; a spreadsheet application; a presentation application; or a note taking application.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the task list members include an assigning user and an assigned user.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user interaction is received from an unassigned user accessing a document related to the task item.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: alerting the unassigned user in the productivity application that the document is set as a task for another user.
 8. A system for presenting and manipulating task items in association with and within a context of a productivity application in which the task items are to be completed, comprising: a processor; and a memory storage device including instructions that when executed by the processor enable the system to: create a task item in association with an entity; observe a user activity related to the task item in the productivity application; display the task item in the context of the productivity application; capture metadata for the user activity; and alert task list members of the user activity.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein to create the task item the system is further enabled to: receive a selection of a document; receive a selection of a user; receive a task item directive; and relate the task item directive to the selection of the document for the user as the task item.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein the entity is an instance of the productivity application opened by an assigning user, including one of: a word processing application; a spreadsheet application; a presentation application; or a note taking application.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein the task list members include an assigning user and an assigned user.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the user interaction is received from an unassigned user accessing a document related to the task item.
 13. The system of claim 12, further enabled to: alert the unassigned user in the productivity application that the document is set as a task for another user.
 14. A computer readable storage device including processor executable instructions for presenting and manipulating task items in association with and within a context of a productivity application in which the task items are to be completed, comprising: creating a task item in association with an entity; observing a user activity related to the task item in the productivity application; displaying the task item in the context of the productivity application; capturing metadata for the user activity; and alerting task list members of the user activity.
 15. The computer readable storage device of claim 14, wherein the task item is created by a first user and the user activity is made by a second user.
 16. The computer readable storage device of claim 14, wherein creating the task item further comprises: receiving a selection of a document; receiving a selection of a user; receiving a task item directive; and relating the task item directive to the selection of the document for the user as the task item.
 17. The computer readable storage device of claim 14, wherein the entity is an instance of the productivity application opened by an assigning user, including one of: a word processing application; a spreadsheet application; a presentation application; or a note taking application.
 18. The computer readable storage device of claim 14, wherein the task list members include an assigning user and an assigned user.
 19. The computer readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the user interaction is received from an unassigned user accessing a document related to the task item.
 20. The computer readable storage device of claim 19, further comprising: alerting the unassigned user in the productivity application that the document is set as a task for another user. 